The Arctic is warming at roughly twice the rate of the globe. This “Arctic Amplification” is at least partially responsible for the Greenland Ice Sheet losing mass in recent years. It is an absolute must to quantify the ice sheet mass loss in order to be able to project likely environmental, social and economical impacts around the globe, and to provide the decision-makers with a firm knowledge base.

In 2007, Denmark launched the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) to assess changes in the mass balance of the ice sheet. The two major contributors to the ice sheet mass loss are surface melt and a larger production of icebergs through faster ice flow. PROMICE is focused on both processes. Ice movement and discharge is tracked by satellites and GPSs. The surface mass balance is monitored by a network of weather stations in the melt zone of the ice sheet, providing ground truth data to calibrate mass budget models.

PROMICE was launched by The Danish Energy Agency DANCEA
programme to assess changes in the Greenland ice sheet